Welcome to another edition
of Linus Lam Network News for 2012! This news report covers our trip
to Anime USA 2012 for a huge weekend of anime and manga enjoyment and
a whole lot more! Held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Wardman Park, Washington D.C.
over the weekend of November 9-11, Anime USA 2012 saw lots of attendees ready to party on with a bunch of
dedicated artists, live performances, gaming events, cosplay fun, and plenty of opportunities to hang
out with fellow anime and manga fans. Our exciting trip to Anime USA 2012 starts here! Coverage you can count on, here at Linus Lam
Network News!

Report:
Anime USA was
billed as one of the last big anime conventions for the year on the east
coast. Friends and family from all parts of the country can come
together here and just relax, cosplay, do panels, voice-acting, shopping,
etc, and not have to burden themselves with the rush-rush from the much
larger summer conventions.

One of the most interesting parts of this year's Anime USA was the new
hotel location, the Marriott Wardman Park hotel. This hotel and the
one adjacent, the Omni Shoreham (Katsucon's old digs), are rumored to be
haunted and indeed have a long history of presidents, celebrities, and questionable
folks who have all stayed in various rooms throughout the decades.
After asking three hotel staffers and some police officers and finally a
top Marriott hotel executive, I can finally say this hotel is worth the
price just for the ghost stories alone. Rumors of cold chills,
flickering lights, items misplaced, and wavering shadows are all true but
have yet to be confirmed or denied, as the staffers say. But don't
let those stories deter you from staying. It is said that these
moments are quite rare and if there are ghosts, they most likely don't
mean anyone any harm.

The convention itself ran on automatic. After the disaster of
Hurricane Sandy, it was known that many panels would be delayed or
cancelled but it really didn't seem that way. Most of the functions
ran on time and the Dealers Hall was filled up fairly nicely. Long
lines for autograph sessions, dance rave nights, Masquerade, all staples
of the anime convention saw no drop in attendance or fandom spirit.
Disaster or not, the show must go on and people needed a nice weekend
escape. Most of the staffers were pretty nice, registration went
smoothly, crowd control was never an issue with a much larger hotel space,
and any late-night shenanigans occurred at the bar but in a muted
tired-of-too-many-summer-parties tone. The Jam Session room was neat
with one band pairing up with an authentic Australian Aboriginal Digiridoo
instrument. The Maid Cafe was a nice touch, now becoming a staple
function for most anime conventions these days.

The only problem was the location itself. The hotel is not linear,
instead having a weird triangular structure, so it was quite a challenge
to navigate through the maze of halls and the maps weren't very
helpful. Even some hotel staffers were a little confused at
times. Even more challenging to find the restrooms on each
floor. But other than that, no really big issues to deter one from
coming back.

I suppose when one comes to Anime USA long enough and you consistently
have a blast, there's not a whole lot more to say than you had a
blast. Well, I had a blast and I look forward to next year's Anime
USA. How's that for a solid endorsement? :)